With California's March 5 primary less than two weeks away, voters in Los Angeles County can now start casting early ballots in person at one of 119 voting centers that opened Saturday.
The ballot includes a long list of statewide and local candidates and ballot measures, including party nominations for president and an open U.S. Senate contest to determine the top two candidates who will advance to the November election.
In California, county elections offices have been asked to begin mailing ballots to all registered voters no later than February 5.
Voting centers, which open 10 days before the election, are one of several options for voters to return mail-in ballots or vote in person during Election Day.
Voters can also mail in completed ballots or return ballots to mail-in voting drop boxes.
People who want to vote but missed the voter registration deadline can fill out a conditional registration form at a voting center in order to cast a ballot, which will be counted after election officials confirm the voter's eligibility.
The Los Angeles County Recorder/County Clerk said voting centers will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. through March 4. Polls and polling locations will open early on Election Day, with polls closing at 8 p.m. statewide.
At the request of then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who now represents California in the U.S. Senate, state lawmakers expanded voting access under a law approved in 2016 called the California Voter Choice Act. The law allows counties to mail ballots to all registered voters and requires polls to open 10 days before the election.
The changes were made in response to historically low voter turnout in 2014 and part of efforts to make it easier for Californians to participate in elections.
As of Thursday, 22.3 million registered voters had received their ballots by mail, and more than 1.4 million had been returned, according to the California Secretary of State's Office. The vast majority of returned ballots, nearly 1.2 million, were sent by mail.
